Psalm Meditation 1065 Proper 28 November 15, 2020 Psalm 64 1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from the dread enemy. 2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the scheming of evildoers, 3 who whet their tongues like swords, who aim bitter words like arrows, 4 shooting from ambush at the blameless; they shoot suddenly and without fear. 5 They hold fast to their evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly, thinking, “Who can see us? 6 Who can search out our crimes? We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.” For the human heart and mind are deep. 7 But God will shoot his arrow at them; they will be wounded suddenly. 8 Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake with horror. 9 Then everyone will fear; they will tell what God has brought about, and ponder what he has done. 10 Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him. Let all the upright in heart glory. (NRSV) The tongue is a symbol of what we can do with our thoughts and words. We can use them for helping and healing, or as in this psalm, to do great damage. We can inflict deep wounds from a great distance with a few words. Sometimes our words are carefully chosen to do maximum damage, other times the damage is done because we do not consider our words before we speak them. Some of the deadliest wounds are inflicted by poisoning others against the actual target of our words. One well phrased rumor can do immense damage if enough people spread it widely enough. The psalmist asks to be delivered from those who have planned and plotted to do damage to another with their words. A part of the plot is the rationale and excuses that words only hurt if they are true. Experience teaches that anything heard often enough becomes true in the minds of the hearers. The plots and plans can arise organically. One person starts a rumor, another person finds it juicy and passes it on. It takes on a life of its own and becomes true among those who spread it even if there is no evidence to back it up. The psalmist doesn’t even have to ask for help as God begins to take aim at those who speak with malice and in hopes of doing great damage to another. The arrows of God may not save the current target of the malicious group, however they do pay a price eventually. The ones who consistently spread damaging words will be seen as folks who cannot be trusted. People will stop talking to them for fear that anything and everything will be used to fuel the rumor mill. Through it all God will be with us, offering us refuge from those who are out to hurt us and to lead us away from any inclination to hurt others. November 9, 2020 LCM